On 29 October 2015 inhabitants of Roma compact settlement in Zolotonosha city had to face severe discrimination from law-enforcement bodies.
Statement by International Renaissance Foundation
Stop police discrimination against Roma minority
On 29 October 2015 inhabitants of Roma compact settlement in Zolotonosha city had to face severe discrimination from law-enforcement bodies. Indeed, police officers invaded houses without any sanction, arrested people. Illegal arrests were often accompanied by beatings and humiliation. Volodymyr Bambula, head of Zolotonosha municipal public organization “Romani Rota”, informed that 20 Roma were arrested and detained in nearest police department. This “raid” from the police was ignited by a conflict between a police officer and a local Roma. People were freed and attacks stopped only thanks to the immediate reaction from the Ombudsman office of Ukraine and help from human rights defenders.
It is the third case of abusive discrimination of Roma from law-enforcement bodies. The first two happened in Izmail (Odessa region) and Uzhgorod (Zakarpattya region).
Monitoring report “Roma rights in law enforcement ”, conducted by Roma public organizations in 2012, showed that police officers adopt systematic biased attitude towards Roma: unsanctioned verifications of ID papers, illegal arrests and examinations, constant questioning. People are bothered and abused by the police only because of their Roma ethnicity.
International Renaissance Foundation supports human rights defenders and Roma activists and stresses that such practices are inadmissible and discriminatory. International Renaissance Foundation insists on immediate investigation of this case and relevant punishment for police officers who abused their powers in Roma compact settlement.
Recently, the law enforcement system started a series of in-depth reforms with the support of International Renaissance Foundation. However, such actions are discrediting our joint efforts and undermine people’s trust in reform process. We address Arsen Avakov, the Minister of Interior Affairs, in order to press him to ensure a transparent and impartial investigation.
